The Rangers haven’t scored a goal at home this season.
So far, they’ve played two games at Madison Square Garden and unfortunately lost both without scoring, including a tough 1-0 defeat against the Capitals on Sunday night.
While they showed more spark in this outing compared to their opener against the Penguins, the Rangers still went a solid 120 minutes without lighting the lamp in front of their home crowd.
It wasn’t about lacking effort or consistency—it was just a matter of not being able to finish against some really talented goaltenders.
Charlie Lindgren, the Capitals’ goalie, had a strong night, stopping 35 shots, with 13 just in the center alone.
The Rangers tried to capitalize on every opportunity, especially during the second period, but nothing could break through Lindgren’s defenses.
There was a moment when Lindgren made a fantastic save, robbing Mika Zibanejad during a two-on-one with Artemi Panarin. Zibanejad had set up a powerful one-timer, and Lindgren somehow managed to stop it.
Whether it was a full power play or five-on-five action, Lindgren remained impressive throughout the game.
Interestingly, he’s actually the younger brother of Ryan Lindgren, who was traded to Colorado last season and signed with the Kraken over the summer.
After his brother’s departure, Charlie seemed to make the game even more personal during his postgame comments.
The Capitals snagged their lone goal 13:47 into the second period when Anthony Beauvillier redirected a shot from Alex Ovechkin past Jonathan Quick, the Rangers’ goalie.
The Rangers struggled in the first 20 minutes, not allowing many shots but also failing to generate much offense.
With Carson Soucy sidelined due to an upper-body injury, Matthew Robertson made his season debut alongside Will Borgen.
Head coach Mike Sullivan rotated the bottom four defensemen initially, but eventually settled on Robertson-Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen-Braden Schneider for the remainder of the game.
According to Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers effectively limited the Capitals to under 10 shots each period, only giving up six high-danger chances.
